I just watched an old interview of Christian during the BB days and is it just me or did he seem REALLY focused and excited back then compared to now?

Assuming if that were true, I wouldn't blame the guy and it'd make sense. Back then, the character was new to him, and now he's playing it for the third time and..well..given on how he really likes to get into character at times, he could just emitting off of how he's supposed to be playing a tiresome Bruce.lol

Assuming if that were true, I wouldn't blame the guy and it'd make sense. Back then, the character was new to him, and now he's playing it for the third time and..well..given on how he really likes to get into character at times, he could just emitting off of how he's supposed to be playing a tiresome Bruce.lol

‘I don’t like big goodbyes so I was fairly quick about that,’ says Christian Bale, who plays Batman for the last time in ‘The Dark Knight Rises’

LOS ANGELES—“This is time to say goodbye,” Christian Bale said as he sat down to talk with us one last time as the star of “The Dark Knight” film series.
“We could continue endlessly with this, but this is the right time,” he added. “Chris (Nolan) has written a wonderful final chapter.”

Christian walked into the Beverly Hilton meeting room in a good mood and, throughout the interview, he appeared enthused to look back on his Batman career.

But first he had to discuss “The Dark Knight Rises,” writer-director Nolan’s conclusion to the trilogy. Michael Caine (as Alfred), Morgan Freeman (Lucius Fox) and Gary Oldman (Commissioner Gordon) are back and are joined by new cast members Anne Hathaway (Selina Kyle/Catwoman), Tom Hardy (Bane), Marion Cotillard (Miranda Tate) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt (John Blake).

Personality disorder
On how he kept it fresh, playing Bruce Wayne and Batman three times over the years, Christian said: “There’s an awful lot of surprises that are possible with Wayne’s character. He’s got multiple personality disorders, really. There’s that part of him that’s still the child who saw his parents murdered in front of him and he’s stayed at that point. He’s a very sad, lonely individual who is unable to move on with his life.”

Speaking in his low, quiet voice, Christian added: “Wayne has the public persona of the playboy and then he’s got the sincere character of Batman, who is the personification of his rage and his sense of injustice. He’s almost a villain. He takes it right to the edge when he can do great wrong but he has the altruism that holds him back from doing that. There are so many stories that can be written in this vein.”

But, as Christian said, it was time to move on.

The former child actor pointed out that he did not keep the Batsuit, but kept the cowl from each of the three movies.

Asked how he would react if he was walking in the middle of the night and encountered a man dressed like Batman, Christian grinned and replied: “That would be a nutcase, right? Hopefully, it’s Halloween and he’s had a little bit of drink—in which case, he’d be a lot of fun. But that was very much what I thought when I first played this character. I thought, when someone is dressed like that—he’s an idiot or you’ve really got to understand—he takes it very seriously. The point is that Wayne is not a healthy superhero. He’s somebody who practices altruism, like I said. He’s managed to turn his pain into something good. But he’s in great danger of the pain overcoming that good, although he takes this very seriously.”

Batman costume
Christian offered his take on the Batman costume. “The reason he dresses that way is that he feels monstrous,” he remarked. “Therefore, he creates a monster to represent that rage and keep it away from his personal life. That was a job that both Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway had to incorporate themselves into as well—not to feel like fools who were walking around in silly Halloween costumes. That we would understand it and that they would have a very clear reason about why they did such a thing.”

Career break
The Batman costume was a blessing to his career, admitted the Wales native. “What I found before Batman is that I would have these wonderful creative conversations with directors and writers,” he recalled. “They’d always say, ‘I’d love you to be in my movie.’ Then financiers would get involved and say, ‘Don’t even mention Christian Bale to me. It’s not going to happen.’ That’s changed. That’s been a big change in my career since playing Batman.”

He declined to discuss whether or not he’d star in a film franchise again. “I’ll never say never. But right now, it’s a little bit too early. I’m looking at very different kinds of movies,” he said.

Stand-alone movie
Brushing his moustache and beard with his right hand, Christian said: “The thing with these Batman movies is, we were never arrogant to think that we had the luxury of knowing we were going to make sequels. Chris always said emphatically, ‘Hey, each movie has to be independent and stand on its own because it could be the only one we’ll ever get to make.’ I think that’s the only way to make any of these movies.”

What next?
Talk about a post-Batman career, Christian’s expressive eyes lit up when he described several coming projects. “I just finished a movie called ‘Out of the Furnace,’ which we shot in five weeks and with Scott Cooper, who’s a fantastic director,” he said. “Really great cast—Casey Affleck, Sam Shepard, Zoe Saldana, Forest Whitaker, Willem Dafoe and Woody Harrelson. That went fantastically well. I’m [also] currently doing a couple of movies with Terrence Malick.”

Those Malick films are “Knight of Cups” and a yet untitled one.

“He is great,” Christian said about Malick, the filmmaker known for being fiercely private.

No Skype dad
When Christian makes movies, he takes his wife Sibi Blazic and their daughter Emmeline, 7, with him. He’s not joining the trend of actors who talk to their families via Skype while away on location.

“I believe in sticking together,” he declared. “I believe that making movies can produce experiences unlike any other job that I’m aware of. I could travel.

There are strange, wonderful experiences and I want my daughter to be a part of that. I want her along for the ride. My wife agrees. We want to be together throughout. So, no Skype dad for me. Also, I’m bloody awful with technology. I would always balls-up Skype.”

Dancing to LMFAO
Can you picture Christian bopping to the electro-pop hits of LMFAO? He claimed that he grooved to that duo’s music with his daughter. “We do an awful lot together,” said the beaming dad. “She has made me sing and dance to songs I’d never imagined I would be singing and dancing to. Nowadays, LMFAO is one of the favorites. It’s fantastic and rejuvenating.”

Dark Knight toys
Laughing, he added: “We also get box-loads of these (‘Dark Knight’) toys. So I get to beat myself up … There is no guilty pleasure about it. My daughter is also crazy about art. So we draw, paint, sculpt.”

Lucky for Emmeline and her pals, they have the “real” Batman to play with.
“I can’t deny it’s a kick for her and her friends,” Christian said. “They enjoy it when I do the voice and everything for them, chasing them around and pretending to be Batman. They enjoy that. And I enjoy it, too. It’s worth it.

Female role model
Asked what kind of future he wants for Emmeline, he answered: “Just the freedom to choose whatever she wants to do. That’s my dream for her.”
He wants her to be inspired by female role models and first on that list is his wife. Christian said: “It’s incredibly important for our very bold and forthright young little girl to have great female models in movies and books. I realized how few female singers I had listened to before she was born. Now, I listen to an awful lot because I want her to know she can do anything that any man can do.”

Still on music, Christian was asked to comment on “Newsies,” the Broadway adaptation of the 1992 Disney movie musical in which he starred (the film was panned by critics). With a chuckle, he said: “I’m not into musicals but I’m very glad that they’re making a success out of something that we apparently made a shambles of. Good for them!”

While Christian the actor has parked The Bat for good, he likes to zoom around in his motorcycle, but “not that often. I always put on the insurance forms that I’m going to be racing motorcycles throughout the movie. But they tend to look at that and say, ‘Can you please not do that?’ But I always give it a try.”

Final scene
Toward the end of our interview, the fitting topic was the very last take he did as Batman. “The final scene that we shot was with myself as Batman, Anne as Catwoman, on a rooftop in Manhattan with The Bat behind us,” he narrated. “It was a fairly low-key affair. When I finished, the filming was going to continue for a few days. I said goodbye to everybody. I don’t like big goodbyes. So I was fairly quick about that, headed down, and then I just said, ‘Hey give me a few minutes.’ And I just sat in the office with the cowl for a good 20 minutes, reflecting on what it had meant to me throughout the years. Then I took off, knowing that was the last time. I won’t be doing it again. It was very meaningful.”

^ the closing moments of the interview is just so vivid with the image of Bale sitting there with the cowl.

End of an era.

Honestly, I don't want WB to make another Batman movie. Not for a good 10 or 20 years. This was the defining Batman film adaptation and its success says a lot on that. I hope we do not get a reboot anytime soon. Justice League or otherwise. Bale is Batman.

__________________

THE JUSTICE BULLETIN published some of my thematic analysis on the symbolism in Nolan's superhero saga.
I call it Heroic Archetypes. You can read the parts on Batman Begins in the following links:
(pt 1; pt 2; pt 3; pt 4; pt 5; pt 6; pt 7)

^ the closing moments of the interview is just so vivid with the image of bale sitting there with the cowl.

End of an era.

Honestly, i don't want wb to make another batman movie. Not for a good 10 or 20 years. this was the defining batman film adaptation and its success says a lot on that. I hope we do not get a reboot anytime soon. Justice league or otherwise. Bale is batman.

^ the closing moments of the interview is just so vivid with the image of Bale sitting there with the cowl.

End of an era.

Honestly, I don't want WB to make another Batman movie. Not for a good 10 or 20 years. This was the defining Batman film adaptation and its success says a lot on that. I hope we do not get a reboot anytime soon. Justice League or otherwise. Bale is Batman.

Quote:

Originally Posted by J.Howlett

+1,000,000.

Agreed; I mean it's one thing to reboot a franchise if the last film was not received entirely well (Spider-Man 3/Hulk (2003), or not even at all (Batman and Robin), but it's another thing where the last film of a given franchise ends on a very and I mean VERY STRONG NOTE. To top things off, the two previous films before it were also strongly received as well.

So really, if Warner Bros. wants to even make another Batman film and have it be successful, no matter who they end up getting and how good that person is, they need one thing even more..TIME.

I honestly don't think that fans and audiences will be ready to accept another Batman after Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy until a lot of time has passed.

Anyways, regarding Bale's take on the character, honestly, it's my favorite one. There's just no real way that I can explain it.lol I mean the way that the character has been portrayed in both writing and acting, they make you care about Batman and his journey and how a job like his doesn't only present a danger to those that he goes after, but to his own health, and I'm talking more mentally/emotionally than physically.

I hated on how the past Batman films treated the material as if being batman wasn't something that would/could take a toll on the person donning the suit. Sure, Keaton's Batman was recluse, but there was nothing to me that showed that being Batman was hurting him more than he was already hurting at the start of his journey on film. The same thing with the following two other versions of Batman.

The irony here is that technically speaking, Burton's and Joel's Batman are in a sense from the same continuity, meaning that Bruce in that large continuity has been Batman for several years...and yet in the long run, hasn't made as big as impact on Gotham as Bale's Batman will who's only been Batman for 2-3 years tops.

In an exclusive Canadian interview, actor leaves open possibility of reprising Batman for a fourth time

LOS ANGELES - Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy is now complete with The Dark Knight Rises, a mega-movie with a staggering $250-million budget. This is it, the end, the final time Christian Bale dons the batsuit and sweats under the cowl that so suffocated him on the first film. Never again...

But is it really the end?

"In terms of Chris," Bale says in an exclusive one-on-one interview, "I think he's made it pretty clear -- which is unusual for Chris -- that this would be the last one. And I'm really the wrong person to ask because it's never been something that I've been involved with, talking about, shall we or shan't we."

But Bale leaves a window open, a glimmer of light suggesting he would play the character again if Nolan asked.

"I just want for Chris to tell me he's got a story and I go read it and it's: 'Oh great, let's go do it!' If he comes up with a great story ... I'm just the wrong guy to be asking about that. It's all down to Chris.

"But my understanding is that he's pretty clear. In my conversations with him, this is it, this is how it was meant to be. But there's always the temptation: How far can you push it? Then there's: No, if it's good, leave it, walk away at that moment. Don't wait until you start making mistakes."

The Dark Knight Rises is set to challenge The Avengers for pop culture supremacy in 2012. The new story is open-ended. Fresh characters are introduced, including Anne Hathaway's sensational and sexy Catwoman (although her cat burglar is never actually given that nickname). Meanwhile, Tom Hardy's uber-villain Bane is Batman's most physically punishing enemy ever, at least in Nolan's trilogy.

Spoiler!!! Click to Read!:

There is another big reveal involving another character, although it would be a spoiler to describe it.

"I've got no idea if that is actually going to go anywhere, you know, or not," Bale says of the possibility of a spin-off franchise. "It's got nothing to do with me at all. But certainly it teases, doesn't it?"

Then there is speculation that Nolan could eventually oversee a combined Superman/Batman movie, a wet dream for Warner Bros. from two decades ago. If Nolan did that, Bale might play the Caped Crusader again. The truth is Nolan has already delivered the goods. Batman Begins, which cost $150 million, earned just $373 million in worldwide box office in 2008, according to Box Office Mojo. But it set the table, winning Oscars and selling millions of DVDs and Blu-rays. The Dark Knight, which cost $185 million, then generated $1 billion in worldwide box office. The Dark Knight Rises is expected to match that.

Bale, a 38-year-old British actor, says he now enjoys some measure of satisfaction from the trilogy, rare for a tempestuous type known for his intensity and self-doubt.

"I remember the first time I ever met with Chris, before he decided he wanted me to audition for the role, and my comment to him was: 'Look, I've just never been into Batman comic books at all because I always felt like the villains were the much more interesting characters. So, is there a way we can make this where we are equally interested in Batman himself?' "

They found that way together. The Bruce Wayne/Batman duality has been explored as a dream-nightmare. That was true in the origins story, once more in the sequel and again in The Dark Knight Rises.

"In many ways," Bale explains, "this one was about taking the best of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight and combining them and going full circle."

Among plot points, we see Bale's Bruce Wayne lost in personal torment. The story is set eight years after the end of The Dark Knight. Batman is both disgraced and retired. Wayne is a recluse. Crime has been contained. But Bane's bombastic arrival in Gotham City suddenly initiates a new reign of terror.

Bale is allowed to wallow in grief and self-pity, but only for so long. Bale laughs about it.

"Probably, if I had been directing it, everyone would have just been bored stupid from the character just wallowing in his own pain, wandering around his mansion for two hours."

Instead, Nolan juxtaposes those segments with action, character development, sex appeal (thank you Catwoman) and even spikes of humour. "Chris understands more than I ever will," Bale says of how cinema works on audiences. "Chris just seems to know where the right balance is."

Bale, however, has yet to see The Dark Knight Rises. He is currently shooting again with Terrence Malick, this time on Knight of Cups.

"I don't multi-task very well," he says. So he is saving himself either for a forthcoming premiere or for a public IMAX screening after opening day on Thursday.

"This is the last one and it's important to me and I'm slightly nervous about having done the job correctly and I just want to have the proper time (to absorb the spectacle), which I don't right now because I'm working."

I really like this fan made trailer that shows the journey of Bruce Wayne.

That is very nice!

There's going to be some really great conversations here after we see the movie. This is the first time in a live action Batman film where we actually will see an entire finished arc for Bruce.

To get things started and just thinking out loud, I wonder if there was any instance during the BB and TDK times where Bruce was happy at all? We see him smile and crack jokes with Alfred or Fox but I always felt, being the tragic character that he is, that he hasn't been happy in a long while (heck maybe since his parents died). And then without being spoilerish, we know that he's going to go through so much hell in TDKR and he was already depressed leading to the events of TDKR...

In BB he's more hopeful the war won't be forever and that inroads are being made. In TDK I felt he was always longing for something that he couldn't reach. Wanting Harvey to replace him. Wanting Rachel to be with him. Wanting the Joker to stop his madness so the City and he could move on. And at the end he has to take on more burden. In TDKR, it looks like the lowest of low - but ultimately the release of the burden in some way.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kvz5

There's going to be some really great conversations here after we see the movie. This is the first time in a live action Batman film where we actually will see an entire finished arc for Bruce.

Yeah. I think he was happiest (or maybe most hopeful is the better word like what you said) during the time he came back to Gotham in BB and was preparing to be Batman. He had full of ideas back then and I don't think he anticipated the tragedies that will arise from him being Batman. He knew it wasn't going to be easy but I don't think he fully expected all the tragedies that will happen to him in TDK and TDKR.

^ i love that little bit between Bruce and Rachel. It's a spearhead. How utterly PROPER a thing to give to the Dark Knight The scene that followed, with Alfred chasing after him and Bruce climbing down to the cave... that is just vintage Batman, something straight out of the comics or the animated series (or even Adam West's if you count the rush!)

Still one of my favourite scenes to date and yeah. I agree, that's the one point where he genuinely seems happy. He's a man who is content when he's engaged in his crusade. Can't get anymore heroic than that.

I'd say that he was also happy somewhere in the beginning of TDK, when he was with Gordon and Dent and they were doing the hero-thing so well before the Joker showed up. Gordon's surprising revival was no less an uplifting moment than that but yeah. Bruce is the happiest whenever he's busy Batmanning around. heh.

__________________

THE JUSTICE BULLETIN published some of my thematic analysis on the symbolism in Nolan's superhero saga.
I call it Heroic Archetypes. You can read the parts on Batman Begins in the following links:
(pt 1; pt 2; pt 3; pt 4; pt 5; pt 6; pt 7)

Agreed; I mean it's one thing to reboot a franchise if the last film was not received entirely well (Spider-Man 3/Hulk (2003), or not even at all (Batman and Robin), but it's another thing where the last film of a given franchise ends on a very and I mean VERY STRONG NOTE. To top things off, the two previous films before it were also strongly received as well.

So really, if Warner Bros. wants to even make another Batman film and have it be successful, no matter who they end up getting and how good that person is, they need one thing even more..TIME.

I honestly don't think that fans and audiences will be ready to accept another Batman after Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy until a lot of time has passed.

Exactly, especially since you have a complete Trilogy. For the audience that's a pretty finished/complete series on its own. They can always dish out another Batman movie and yes, fans will clamour to watch it, and at the end of the day WB will make more money off the character, but making one so close on the heels of the previous one (just when it finished off) would just seem tiresome and dull. And that's something you don't want the audience to feel.

I know that I certainly won't feel this.... um.... invested? .... in another live-action/cinematic adaptation of Batman for a good while. The catharsis to come off from this entire trilogy needs, as you've said, time to be ingrained and accepted by the majority of fans. TDKR is taking a risk by beign the third film in the franchise - the demented part 3 - when your protagonist has no where else to go. But by placing it firmly within a cohesive Trilogy, Nolan's managed to dodge that and address his entire take as one long Heroic Epic, like Lawerence of Arabia or something. They probably have a term for it somewhere. A reboot this fast would make it taste like movie # 4 -- the buzz, the bling, the badassery of the franchise, but nothing from the original that made the original a classic.

__________________

THE JUSTICE BULLETIN published some of my thematic analysis on the symbolism in Nolan's superhero saga.
I call it Heroic Archetypes. You can read the parts on Batman Begins in the following links:
(pt 1; pt 2; pt 3; pt 4; pt 5; pt 6; pt 7)

That is a really nice suit Bale is wearing there. The wide peak lapels actually got thinking about what if Nolan and Hemming had dressed Bruce in old school double-breasted suits in the trilogy like Bruce in the early comics or BTAS Bruce. Ironically, Nolan dressed another billionaire heir with abandonment issues very similarly rather recently...